Women's basketball clashes with Northern Illinois in MAC West battle
Confidence and motivation on the road is something the Central Michigan women's basketball team has been searching for throughout the entire season.
For the first time this season, head coach Sue Guevara said her team overcame those obstacles on Saturday against Eastern Michigan.
“In the first half, our outside shots were still not falling like we wanted them to, but for the first time away from home this year, our confidence in taking those shots stayed up,” Guevara said. “Those same shots we made in the second half were the same shots we didn't make in the first half. We were hungry and we played like it.”
CMU's 104-63 win against the Eagles was its largest margin of victory since 2013. Every player on CMU's active roster scored and the starters didn’t play in the fourth quarter.
It all leads up to a huge week for the Mid-American Conference West Division standings, starting with an 8 p.m. tip-off Wednesday when the Chippewas travel to DeKalb to take on Northern Illinois.
The Chippewas (16-6 overall, 8-2 MAC) trail the MAC-West leading Huskies (16-5, 9-1) by a game in conference play.
With a win, CMU could find itself atop the West Division again. Ball State (16-7, 9-2) is in second place in the MAC West Division and will play Bowling Green (6-16, 2-8) Wednesday.
Game Notes:
- CMU improved it’s road record to 3-5 on the season after the win against EMU. That was the team's first road win since Jan. 14 against Bowling Green.
- A big part of CMU’s offense lately has been junior forward Tinara Moore. Over the past five games, Moore has averaged 24 points which is good for third in the MAC behind teammate Presley Hudson and Kent State’s Larissa Lurken.
- NIU comes into the game on a four-game win streak, with three of those wins coming at home. For the season, the Huskies are 10-2 on their own court.
- As a team, NIU is scoring 88 points per game which is good for first in the MAC. Right behind the Huskies in second place is CMU who is averaging 76 points per game this year.
- The Huskies have six players who average double figures in scoring. Sophomore guard Courtney Woods leads the bunch with 17.6 points per game. Right Behind her is senior forward Cassidy Glenn who averages 16.4 points per game, and senior guard Ally Lehman who averages a double-double with 15.4 points and 10.2 rebounds per game.
- CMU is second in the MAC with a 76.2 free throw percentage, right behind the first place Huskies who are shooting 79 percent from the line.
- Guevara now has 169 wins over her 10 years as the Chippewas head coach. The Saginaw native needs just three more wins to break Donita Davenport’s program record of 171 wins.
